Who’s up for a nice hypothetical situation? You are! Here’s what I’m thinking: let’s say that due to a strange confluence of economic, political, social, environmental, and, um, astrological circumstances, American Emperor Gary Busey (I’m telling you, shit got weird) decrees that all carmakers must standardize on one single model to serve everyone in America, starting in the 2025 model year and for the foreseeable future. The big question is, of course, what should that one model be? What’s the one vehicle currently being produced in America with the best shot of at least coming close to serving everyone’s basic needs? I think I have an idea.
This one vehicle has a hell of a job ahead of it: it needs to be something that is still accessible to as much of the population as possible, and needs to also fill all the primary, essential niches and use cases of mainstream cars: a commuter car; a family car; a car for people of limited means; a car that’s also comfortable and pleasurable to drive; a utility and work vehicle; an Uber/taxi/rideshare vehicle … and more. It has to do everything.
That very likely means it’ll make nobody really happy. It’s inherently going to be an amalgam of compromises, and there’s no real way for it to happily fill very specific niches, but that’s what we’re dealing with here. If Emperor Busey says there must only be one kind of car, that’s pretty much what we have to do, lest we want to tangle with his Happiness Enforcers, which, trust me, you don’t.
So what car currently produced on American soil has the best chance of filling this role? We have a lot to pick from, really: the full line of Teslas, for example, but I’m not sure the charging infrastructure – even one as developed as Tesla’s – is up to the task of serving all new cars sold in the US. Plus, they’re still not cheap, and these things need to be accessible across the board, from broke-ass people who desperately need a new car to fancy people who use “summer” as a verb.
That would also rule out those BMW X-series SUVs made in South Carolina, too. Most crossovers and even SUVs would be too limited for harder utility use, and most full-size trucks would be impractical for a large number of city-dwellers, aside from being expensive, too. Really, there’s only one option I can think of that would come close to meeting the broadest spectrum of needs:
The Ford Maverick.
Specifically, the hybrid one. You can still get these new for about $25,000, and the gas-only engine version is even cheaper. For the One Model policy, we’ll do our best to keep options for that model, so that AWD can still be had, because there are parts of the country that will need it. But generally, I think the hybrid’s impressive fuel economy will make it the better choice for the default option.
The Maverick is also a four-door that seats five, which seems like the minimum we’d need as a baseline car. There will be people who need to seat more, and for them I think we’ll have to rely on aftermarket in-bed seating solutions with bed caps to enclose everyone. I’d bet there’d be room for two more rows back there, making for, oh, seating for another four to six people? That feels possible.
That truck bed is key, of course, because it allows for actual utility and cargo-hauling use. A simple cover could turn it into a huge trunk which is all many people want, but it’s still definitely a truck bed, and people often need truck beds. For all kinds of things. We’ve already seen plenty of Mavericks used for fleet utility vehicles for construction companies and plumbers and similar businesses, so I think this should continue to cover those, too.
None of this is to say that the Maverick is the best vehicle out there or anything like that; what I do think is that it is the most flexible and adaptable vehicle for the widest variety of uses. As I said, for niche sorts of things, it’s not going to cut it – it’s not a luxurious vehicle or a particularly fast one of a great handling sports car, but maybe the inevitable clever aftermarket suppliers can take care of these niches, since you know if we’re all limited to one type of car, there will be options for people to trade some money for a more individual and specific type of vehicle.
I’m thinking a luxury one would need at least some treatment like this:
..and a more sporting variant may take a bit more work, but I think could be done, maybe like this:
I think we could make this work. I’d hope it wouldn’t have to be forever – maybe when Emperor Busey finally kicks or perhaps some other faction manages to take over (perhaps the collective led by former Mythbusters host Adam Savage will finally make their move) the automotive industry will be free to produce a wide variety of models again, but until then I still think the Maverick offers us the best, most adaptable platform for the broadest spectrum of people.
Am I wrong here? Is there some other option, built here in America, that I’m missing? If there’s anything that’s more flexible for this incredibly broad and diverse job of serving, well, a whole nation, then I’m all ears. Tell us in the comments if you have a better idea, and we can hash it out.
I mean, we have to. For the Emperor!
The old school Chevy work van they still build…but give it an optional manual transmission.
I know it’s not the American way, but the answer is Van; I’m going to nominate the Ford Transit, but I dare say a similar argument could be made for a few other vans.
It is more expensive than the maverick, but I’d imagine there’d be some economies of scale that could be made if it was the only vehicle being made. it is also a little on the large side (about half a metre longer than the maverick in it’s shortest configuration) but overall it’s the more practical option.
This, vans are the most practical vehicles of all.
I would nominate the Ridgeline. It hauls. It’s comfortable. It has that sweet hole in the bed to store stuff. It is civilized and Honda almost has the styling to a point where it doesn’t look like an an abortion from an Odyssey and Pilot.
Maverick is made in Mexico though?
Bought my XLT AWD 2.0 Tremor last month and I am loving this little truck more and more. And so many customization options for such a new vehicle! I’ve added a chase rack and light bar, ditch lights, a tailgate assist dampener, upgraded LED turn signals, and have a FRL levelling kit arriving this weekend.
So far it’s made dump runs and carried a new deepfreeze home for the garage. So much easier than having to hookup the trailer on my last jeep for every little carry job.
And it does great on the horrible Alaskan roads this time of year.
Almost a year in our hybrid Maverick, it really is a great vehicle. I call it a commuter car which can do light truck stuff. We’re averaging 40mpg over 7000 miles. Only issue with ours was a rattle over bumps, front strut was replaced under warranty.
I doubt that Busey rule would feel much different than under DT; it would still be Mulaney’s Horse in a Hospital. Hell, Emperor ANYBODY can FUBAR everything.
Allowing different body configurations is cheating, as then you get into the sort of thing where anything built on the same platform (say, VW MQB) is the “same car”.
Instead, take this to it’s logical extreme that the one allowed vehicle is not allowed to vary in any way, even color, and every single vehicle produced is an exact carbon copy, and figure out that one specific configuration that is the most optimized for the jack of all trades, master of none.
a wagon body and a trailer is way more useful than a pickup.
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A fun thought experiment and classic Torch, nice. I feel like the number of proposed variants stretch’s the premise of it only being “one” car though, especially by the modern definition of one car. This line up of variants would fit the one car definition of a car back in the 60s (first gen Corvair for example, had every variant imaginable), but today the standard is very different (we have Mazda selling the same crossover as two “different” cars just based on having a third row or not).
I want a supercharged Maverick sports coupe, and I want it now, dammit
I’ve had my Maverick for about two years now and it’s been everything I could want in a truck. I sprang for the ecoboost FX4 Lariat over the Hybrid because I actually do tow campers, go skiing in the winter and off road whenever I can. I also live in Los Angeles so parking space is scarce and getting worse.
However, it is not without faults. Mine and many other poor souls are plagued by water leaks into the cabin due to a poor design somewhere that Ford has not issued a recall or service bulletin on yet. Other than that and my now moldy carpets, I couldn’t ask for more.
but… the Maverick is made in Mexico
So? Their quality has been as good or better than Ford’s USA plants.
I only bring it up because the premise of the hypothetical is cars made in America, which I read as made in the USA. I guess the hypothetical is weird enough where we can just assume we’ve annexed Sonora. No shade thrown at Ford Hermosillo. I have a Maverick and love it!
You’re only missing a wagon version
Isn’t that what the one with seats in the bed and a cap on it would be?